SUN-GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Pictured are participants from a past 9/11 Memorial Motorcycle Ride.

WILLIAMSPORT — For the 24th time since terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, motorcyclists will take to the highways in Lycoming County for the 9/11 Memorial Ride, rolling past families, friends and neighbors cheering them on as they all vow never to forget.

The event, which has become a county tradition, is planned throughout the year by the non-profit 9-11 Memorial Coalition culminating in the 42-mile ride always on the anniversary of that day. The group of volunteers comprising the coalition do it because they love this country, they do it for all the right reasons, according to Todd Winter, the fire chief at Clinton Township where the bikers congregate before the ride and also a member of the coalition.

And, it’s not an easy job to organize for the thousands of motorcycles that are expected to travel through the municipalities on the route.

“You know, permitting is a nightmare, because we have to get every municipality we go through,” Winder said.

“There’s 14 municipalities, so in order to get a PennDOT permit, we have to get a letter from each municipality, allowing us to go through it…some of the municipalities want to be indemnified with our insurance. To get insurance for a motor sports thing anymore is getting difficult. A lot of insurers are getting out of it. So we have difficulty getting insurance because we start the permitting process in April, and we can’t get letters from some municipalities until we have the insurance. Well, we can’t get the insurance because they won’t insure you that far out in front of the event. So it’s just, it’s a vicious cycle,” he explained, adding, “but you know, we always seem to pull it off.”

First responders and police departments along the route are also mobilized for traffic control.

The event opens at 10 a.m. the day of the ride and there will be vendors on hand to provide food for the crowd, which by the time the memorial service starts at 5 p.m., has grown into the thousands. The memorial service features a prayer, a guest speaker, and a 21-gun salute by the Korean War Veterans. Throughout the day there will be a Blessing of the Bikes.

This year’s guest speaker at the service is State Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township, a member of the coalition who was instrumental in passing legislation related to state level permitting for the ride.

Kickstands officially go up at 6 p.m.

The ride has grown exponentially since the day that terrorist attacks changed the psyche of America. The first unofficial ride came just after the attack and was a group of friends who rode around the area, not knowing how to express what they were feeling about the horror of it all.

“Everybody was frustrated. We just didn’t know what to do,” said Tom Baird-who prefers to be called Tank-president of the Coalition and one of the original organizers.

“By the first anniversary it had morphed more appropriately into the memorial that it is today,” he added.

Even though it’s been almost a quarter of a century ago-long before some of the people who will participate in the ride were born-there is still that anger and frustration when Baird speaks about the attack.

“I find that I’m still angry about that. I was angry about the Islamic terrorists and I was angry at the US government for not being better prepared for something like that-that they could come to our shores and kill 2,977 of our citizens,” Baird said.

“People were just going to work that day. They were flying to their relatives or on vacation or something and all of a sudden…” he said.

The ride always occurs on the anniversary of that attack and for Winder, a volunteer fireman, that’s important in honoring the first responders who died trying to help people that day.

“Those firemen and those people that ran into the towers, they gave their lives on that day, you know, they didn’t wait until Saturday to go help people. They didn’t wait, so we should honor them,” Winder said.

And that’s what makes this a memorial ride and not a place for politics.

“No matter what your politics are, no matter whether you believe that it was terrorists, planes, our own government, or whatever conspiracy theory you think of — we don’t get involved in the politics or any of that stuff,” Winder said.

“We are there to honor and remember the folks that died that day…our world changed that day. There’s no mistake that our country, our world, our lives, all changed that day,” he added.

People line the streets of the communities they pass through, waving their hands and flags and cheering the riders on and that is one of the highlights for the participants, both Winder and Baird said.

“We say it every year, that if it was just a bunch of motorcycles making the loop, I think you’d come do it once or twice and that’d be it,” Winder said.

“But when you leave the fire station and you start out on the road and there’s people all along the 42 mile with American flags just clapping or cheering as you go by or just sitting there watching, it’s amazing. You’ll see whole families at a house where it’s a picnic for them that day, and the whole family gets together. We’ve seen parking lots with grills and pop-up tents along the Golden Strip where they make it like a tailgate,” he said.

Baird has a special request this year for the spectators along the route.

“This year I would love to see flags like they were flying a week after the attack. If you recall there was a flag on every porch and everybody put a flag on their car,” Baird said.

“It’s just inspiring for the people on the curb and for the riders themselves,” he added.

Although there is no charge to participate in the ride, bikers and their riders are encouraged to register the day of the ride. For more information and a map of the route, visit the coalition’s website at 911memorialcoalition.org.